Words of Wisdom – Katharina Molitor

After more than a decade in the sport,Katharina Molitorlanded javelin gold at the Beijing World Championships with a last round PB 67.69m throw. The experienced German sharesher words of wisdom.

1. Be disciplined

“It is always important to be disciplined when it comes to your training, even when training is not always fun.

“The importance of discipline has been instilled into me from a young age by my parents. I hate weight lifting, but I know I have to do it, so I have to be disciplined and tell myself it is important to do it to help my javelin.

“It might not be something I like to do, but I know it has helped me improve my javelin.

Molitor made her world champs debute at Daegu 2011, where she finished fifth in the final

2. Be confident

“My self-confidence has grown with age, and I think this played a part in enabling me to win gold in Beijing.

“I am naturally not the sort of person to go up to anyone and chat. I was very shy when I was younger, but over time this has become less of a problem and I think by performing in sport in front of so many people this has given me more self-confidence.

“Competing in the javelin to a high standard has, for sure, helped my confidence levels. But I have also played volleyball for many years [for Bundesliga second division side Bayer Leverkusen] and I think playing team sports has also given me a good background and helped my confidence too.

“This has allowed me not to be fazed when competing at major championships.”

3. Be persistent

“It took until I was aged 31 to win my very first major championship medal [in Beijing], and I did wonder if I would ever climb the podium

“Between 2012 and 2014 I had a number of frustrating years. Each year I threw a best of 63m and I did question whether I would ever throw any further.

“After the London Olympics [where Molitor finished sixth] I did ask my coach [Helge Zollkau] about whether he thought I could throw further. I was close to giving up the sport and I think I would have quit had he not told me he believed I could throw further. For my coach to have that belief in me was critical.

“In 2015 that persistence in sticking with the sport really paid off.”